X-Message-Number: 7543 Date: 21 Jan 97 21:00:22 EST From: Paul Wakfer <> Subject: Prometheus Project Correspondence As I wrote this reply to a private inquiry from postings that I recently sent to several newsgroups, I realized that I was expressing things quite differently than I had before and that my reply might be interesting to readers of CryoNet. >Re: Prometheus Project Aims at Suspended Animation >This sounds fascinating. Yes, I believe that it is extremely exciting. Thanks for responding. Would you mind telling me on which newsgroup you saw my post? >i) Is this a commercial proposition, or a research programme? It is essentially a research program. However, as with any research there is potential for profit to be made from useful inventions and processes which come out of the research. With this project, in the very long run there is enormous profit potential. The Project is being privately subscribed to (way too far out for governments or even large corporations) and will be conducted by a nominally for-profit corporation. Any useful inventions, processes or perfusates will be patented so that any eventual profits will accrue to those who have pledged and purchased shares in the corporation. The reason why this project is not being promoted as a standard bio-tech R&D start-up is because there is no near term specific product likely possible and therefore, the normal possibility/expectancy for major shareholder gain within the near term (5 years) is missing. Instead, the Prometheus Project is a very long term project with a very large payoff potential both in terms of money and in terms of your own personal chance for vastly extended life. >ii) How is this connected (if at all) to the cryonics movement >(freeze-you-when-you-are-dead) Basically, it is an attempt to finally do the research necessary to show that the cryonics idea can work. To any scientific/medical person it is clear that most people who are currently declared dead at the end of an agonal process could be revived to live a few more hours or days. This is not done because it would be pointless and inhumane to extend the suffering and generally very poor quality of life of the terminal patient. However, even under the best of circumstances (gaining access to a terminal patient who could still be revived), the process of cryopreservation does a great deal of additional damage before the patient ends up in true stasis immersed in liquid nitrogen (where all scientists agree no more damage is possible for hundreds of years - so long as the patient remain safely immersed). Cryonicists have been too busy trying to sell the idea that "our friends of the future" will cure what was killing the patient, will fix up the cryopreservation damage, and will reverse the patient's aging to boot. While eventually, all these things may well be possible and done routinely, I believe that we should be trying to do them one at a time, not all together. Standard medical research is concentrating on curing disease processes. Preventative medicine is concentrating on eliminating their occurrence. Anti-aging medicine, which has recently started to grow much stronger, is concentrating on understanding, halting and reversing the aging process, ie. treating it too as a disease process. Cryonicists should be concentrating on doing the research necessary to reduce and eliminate the additional damage which is done during the cryopreservation process, so that, at least for a young, healthy mammal, this process is fully reversible. That is the goal of the Prometheus Project. For its success, it does not require that all diseases have been conquered or that aging has been eliminated and rejuvenation perfected. It will be applicable to anyone who is about to die prematurely of some specific disease process which might likely be curable in the near future. If you have not done so, you should look at the Prometheus project web site. Many more details are given there. -- Paul -- Paul Wakfer email: phone:909-481-9620 pager:800-805-2870 HELP TO ACHIEVE - PERFECTED SUSPENDED ANIMATION WITHIN 20 YEARS! Check out the Prometheus Project web site at URL: http://www.prometheus-project.org/prometheus/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7543